Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-06-04
SIS, scared ana wet to the skin, manage to

jess, scared and wet to the skin, managed to
climb up the natural steps, now made almost
impossible by the prevailing gloom and the
rush of the water from the table top of the
mountain, and so on across the sodden plain,
down the rocky path on the farther side, past
the little walled in cemetery, with its four
red gums planted at its corners, in which a
stranger who had died at M%ooifontein Law
buried, and so, just US the darkness Of the
wet night came down like q cloud, home ut
last. At the back door stood her old uncle
with a lantern.
"Is that you, Jesss' he called out in his
stentorian tones. Lord! what a sight!' as
she emerged, her soddeu dress clinging to her
slight form, her hands bleeding with Chamber
ing over the rocks, her curling hair, which
had broken loose, hanging down her bnck and
half covering her face.
"Lord, what a sight," he calculated again.
"Why, Jess, where have you been? Capt.
Mel has gone out to look for you with the
Kafirs."
II have been sketching in Leuw Kloof, and
got caught i'll the storm. There, uncle, let
me pass, 1 want to get these wet things off.
1t is bitter night" and Off she ran to her
room, leaving a long trail of water behind
her as she passed. The old man entered the
house, shut the door and blew out the Ian.
tern.
"Now, what is it she reminds me OFF, he
said aloud, as he CROPPED his way down the
passage to the sitting room. "Ah, 1 know,
that night when she first came here out of the
rain leading Bessie by the hand. What can
the girl have been thinking of, not to see the
thunder coming upa She ought to know the
signs of the weather here by now. Dreaming,
l suppose, dreaming. She's III odd woman,
jess, very. Perhaps he did not quite know
how accurate his guess was and how true
the conclusion he drew from it. Certainly
slA had been dreaming, and che was all odd
woman.
Meanwhile jess was rapidly changing her
clothes and removing the traces of her strug-
gle with the elementA But of that other
struggle that she had gone through she could
not remove the traces. They and tho love
that arose from it would endure as long as
she endured. 1t was her former self that had
been cast off in it and that now lay behind
her, an empty and meaningless thing like the
shapeless pile of garments. 1t was all very
strange. So he had gone to look for her, and
had not found her. She was glad that ho
had gone. 1t made her happy to think Of
him searching and calling in the wet and the
night. She was only a woman, and it was
natural that she should feel thus. BY and by
he would come back and find her clothed and
i'll her right mind and ready to greet him.
She was glad that he had not seen her, wet,
dishevclled, and sllalnleSs. A woman looks
so unpleasant like that. 1t might have turned
him against her. Men like women to lool,
nice and clean and pretty. They gave her an
idea. ;sho turned to her glass and, holding
the light above her head, studied her own face
attentively i'll it. She was Il woman with as
little vanity in her composition us it is possible
for u woman to have, and she had not till now
given her personal looks much consideration.
They had not been of great Importance to her
in the Wakkerstroom district of tho Trans
vaal. But now all of Il sudden they became
very important; and so she stood and looked
at her own wonderful eyes, at the masses of
curling brown hair still damp and shining
from the rain, ut tho curious pallid face and
tho clear cut determined mouth.
III 1T were not for my eyes and hair !
should be very ugly" she said to herself
aloud. "lf only | were beautiful like Bessie,
now The thought Of her sister gave her an
other idea. What if ho were to prefer Bes.
sic! Now she thought of it, he had been very
attentive to Bessie. A feeling of dreadful
doubt md jealousy passed through her, for
women like Jess know what jealousy is in its
pain. Surprising that it was all in vain, sup
posing that what she had to-day given-given
with both hands once and for nll, so that she
could not a it back, had been given to Il
man who loved another woman, and that
woman her wv dear sister! Surprising tia,
tho fate of her love was to I've like water fall.
ing unaltcringly on tho hard rock that heeds
it not and retains it not. True, tho water
wears the rock away; but could she be salts
fled with that! She could master him, she
knew; even if things we're so, She could win
him to herself, she had read it in his eyes
that afternoon; but could she, who had
promised her dead mother to cherish and pro-
tect her sister, whom till this afternoon she
had loved better than anything in the world,
and whom she still loved moro dearly than
her life-could she, if it should happen to be
thus, rob that sister Of her lover? And il it
should be SO, what would her life be like? It
would be like a great pillar after the light
ming had smitten it, a pile of scattered, s1nok-
ing fragments, Il very heaped up debris of a
life. She could feel it even now. No wonder
She sat there upon the little white bed holding
her hand against her heart and feeling terri
bly, afraid.
Just then she heard Johns footstcp in the
hall.
II can't find her" he said, in an anxious
tone. to some ono us she rose, taking her
candle with her, and left the room. The light
from the candle fell upon his faco and drip.
ping clothes. 1t was white and anxious, and
she was glad to SEQ tho anxiety.
"Oh, thank God! here you nre!" he said,
catching her hand. 81 began to think you
were quite lost. / have been right down tho
kloof after you, and got n nasty fall over it."
ut is very good of you, F" she said, in a low
voice, and again their eyes met, and again
the glance thrilled him. There was such a
wonderful light in Jess eyes that night.
Half all hour afterwalrl they sat down us
usual to supper. Bessie did not put in an ap-
pearance till it was u quarter over, an. then
sat very silent through it. jess narrated hcr.
adventure in the Kloof, and everybody
listened, but nobody said much. There was q
sort of shadow over tho house that evening,
or perhaps it was that each OF the party was
thinking Of his own affairs. After supper old
Silas Croft began talking about tho political
state Of the country, which gave him uneasi-
ness. He said that he believed the Beers
really meant to rebel against tho government
thu, time. Frank Muller had told him so, and
be always knew What was going on. This
announcement did not tend to raise any
body's spirits, and the evening passed rs
silently as the meal had done. AT last Bessie
got up, stretched her rounded arms, and s:il
that she was tired and going to bed.
"Come into my room" she whispered to her
sister as she passed. 81 want to speak to you.
CHAPTER VII.
LOVES YOUNG; DREAM.
After waiting a few minutes jess said
GOOD night" and went straight to Bessie's
room. Her sister had undressed and was sit
ting ON her bed Wranned in a hiua dreSsinu